The Language of Recovery

Monica Joseph
 WHAT NAMES DO WE USE TO
REFER TO A PERSON WHO IS SEEN
AS DRINKING TOO MUCH?

WHAT ABOUT A PERSON WHO IS

USING DRUGS?
 LANGUAGE EVOLVES - Alcohol
• Historically, alcoholism and addiction seen as two
different phenomena
• 1784 - Benjamin Rush refers to
– “ardent spirits” and their habitual use as an “odious
disease”
• Prior to 18thC - al-kuhl (Arabic) – an eye cosmetic
• By 18thC – essence or spirit, intoxicating ingredient
• 1849 – Magnus Huss, Swedish MD – alcoholism,
aloholic
 1850s-early 1900s
• Intemperance
• Barrel fever
• Habitual drunkennes
• Drunk, drunkard
• Dipso (alcoholic) mania; dipsomanic (thirst frenzy)-
binge drinking
• Oino (wine)mania
• Inebriety, inebriate
• Liquor habit
• Vice – victim of drink
• By early 1900s - Professionals and public begin to
use alcoholism, alcoholic
• By 1930s – problem drinking & drinker
• By 1934 – AA or Alcoholics Anonymous gave boost
to the term – alcoholic
• Abnormal drinking & drinker
• By 1940, alcoholism & alcoholic used in scientific
literature
• E.M. Jellinek preferred
– alcohol addiction, compulsive drinking, alcohol
habituation
– Identified 200 definitions of alcoholism (1960)
• By 1957 – WHO – World Health Organization
– Alcohol dependence or alcohol addiction or
alcohol habituation
• By 1967, Cooperative Commission on the
Study of Alcoholism – problem drinker
• Early 1970s – complaints that alcohol abuse
was an “inherently nasty phrase”
• Problematic alcohol use, alcohol misuse,
deviant drinking, excessive drinking
 DRUGS OTHER THAN ALCOHOL
• 19TH C – opium drunkenness
• Morphinism, chloralism, narcotism –
– ism means perpetual state of use
• Morphinomania –
– mania means rabid craving that incites periodic binges
– Attempt to find a term for multiple drug choices
• - inebriety, intoxicomania, drug habituation/abuse/
dependence, substance abuse, chemical dependency,
addictive behavior
• - mixed cases, multiple/combined/alternating inebriety
 ADDICTION

• Mid -1890s: Addicere (Latin) – to adore; to

surrender self to a master
• Addiction/addictee/addict – initially referring
to drugs other than alcohol
• Now also used to refer to alcohol
• Has emerged in popular culture to mean any
behavior that is excessive or repetitive
 ROSC-Recovery Oriented Systems of Care
• Early 21st C, focus on moving away from
objectifying and stigmatizing language
• Now - First person language – person with
• Movement from acute biopsychosocial
stabilization to sustained recovery
management, short & long-term recovery
– Recovery homes/schools/industries/ministeries/
community centers/community organizations
• Recovered or Recovering remains an issue?
 Official Classification Systems
• DSM –Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (APA) – Prior to 2013 -
alcohol abuse, dependence, intoxication,
substance induced disorders
• ICD – International Classification of Diseases
(WHO) has its own system - Disagreements
with DSM
• ICD 10 & DSM V attempts to resolve – Alcohol
Use Disorders; Substance Use Disorders
 Behavioral Health Care
• Significant relationships between substance use
disorders and other mental health disorders
• A subset of persons has both:
– Co-ocurring Disorders (COD)
• Move to unify the field – Behavioral Health – to
facilitate prevention and treatment
• Concern as to if this will affect addiction
treatment negatively
 Summary
• Confusion remains in the field around what is
the language of recovery
• Has moved from alcohol only and drug only
language to a more integrative, person-
centered framework
• DSM V &ICD 10 seeking agreement in
classifying alcohol and drug use disorders
• Move to behavioral health and to a recovery-
oriented systems of care